The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, lifted this Thursday the state of maximum alert of the country’s armed forces, which he had decreed on Monday, due to the situation in northern Kosovo, the Serbian agency Tanjug reported.
The Serbian security and armed forces were placed on high alert following an identical measure in Kosovo.
The revocation of the measure follows the news that the Kosovar Serbs today began to remove the barricades that prevented access to the border with Serbia.
Vucic had already announced this morning that the Kosovar Serbs were going to remove the barricades that have blocked traffic in northern Kosovo since December 10, erected against an alleged discriminatory policy of the Kosovar government.
Queues of cars and trucks formed on the Serbian side of the main border crossing where the barricades were erected, after being unable to cross for three weeks.
“The barricades will be removed, but the mistrust will not,” said Vucic in the Serbian town of Raska (south), after a meeting with representatives of the Serb minority in Kosovo, according to the Serbian public television RTS.
According to Vucic, the Kosovar Serb representatives insisted that they do not trust the Kosovar authorities in Pristina.
“If the arrests and terror against us continue, we will shut down northern Kosovo forever,” they said, in a message read by Vucic.
The removal of the barricades was welcomed by the head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
Caroline Ziadeh welcomed the measures to “reduce tensions in northern Kosovo, including the removal of roadblocks,” in a statement quoted by the Spanish news agency EFE.
Ziadeh said that the “tough efforts” of the international community and stakeholders have ensured the safety of all Kosovo citizens and communities.
The Russian state news agency TASS, citing Tanjung in reporting on the end of the state of alert, said the situation worsened in early December when Kosovar special forces, “accompanied by patrols from the European Union mission “, they took over the facilities of the electoral commission. in the north of Kosovo.
Earlier, in November, 600 members of the Kosovo Serb minority, who were part of the police forces and the civil service, had resigned following the announcement by the Kosovar authorities that they were going to ban the circulation of vehicles with Serbian license plates.
Tensions escalated over the following days, and on December 10, several hundred Kosovar Serbs blocked roads and paralyzed traffic at two key border points with Serbia.
Russia reaffirmed its support for Serbia on Wednesday, saying it was paying close attention to what was happening in Kosovo and how the rights of Kosovo Serbs were being fulfilled.
Kosovo, inhabited mainly by ethnic Albanians, unilaterally gained independence from Serbia in 2008, following a war between separatists and Belgrade guerrillas.
Serbia does not recognize the independence of Kosovo.
Source: TSF
